Tuesday, October 30, 2012

This is my friend, Bekah. Isn't she absolutely gorgeous?!! And her little babies are so cute too! Bekah and I have known each other for a very long time, and even though we have never lived around each other, we have always remained pen-pals.

I first met Bekah at some Church Revival Meetings in Dillon, MT. I was about 10 years old, she was probably 11 or so, I literally thought she was the coolest human being on the face of this planet. I stayed the week in Dillon, and we hung out every day. At the end of the church meetings, right after the Friday night service, we decided that we were going to hide in the bushes and it seemed like a really good idea at the time because we thought we would probably never see each other again. :) We hid from our families so they couldn't take us away from each other. Well, I think this lasted about 30 minutes before people were yelling our names and I heard a random man mention maybe calling the police, the next thing we know her dad is pulling both of us out of the bush. I was TERRIFIED!! He said Bekah was getting a spanking and was going to tell my dad I needed one too! I am still a little scared of her dad to this day. :) Kidding kidding! He is a very nice man. Bekah and I didn't lose contact after that. She would write me and my sister a lot of letters and she made necklaces that she would mail us. She was awesome, she still is and has a wonderful family now.

Now that she is all grown up, is married and has little babies of her own, she asked me to give her some opinions on her entry way. And so I created an online design board for her. Here is what her entry way looks like now!

She is renting the house she is currently in, which was built in the 1800's and has tons of character! Lots of molding and unique things, however because she is leasing it, she can't paint. Luckily, it is painted in a really pretty shade of yellow. Here is what I have in mind:

The exact items used in this design board would total about $3500. I am pretty sure that is not what Bekah has in mind for a budget, so here are my suggestions:

Keep your console table (obviously) that thing is gorgeous!

Add a lamp for some light. I like the one in the picture because it is mixing a little bit of rustic with other fancy elements. Add a black drum shade. Adds instant drama and sophistication, and will look oh so pretty against your butter colored walls. You can pick up super gorgeous high quality lamps at places like TJ Maxx or Ross. Or get a vintage lamp from a thrift store and add a black shade. You will love it.

Plan on spending $40-$50 on a really gorgeous statement mirror. I would go with round because of the character of your house and the shape of your console table, I think it would be so pretty! This will be your biggest expense. But you won't regret it. I know they had mirrors like the one I used at our local TJ Maxx for under $50.00. The one I used in the picture costs $550.00. You can find it here or you can save $500.00 and go to TJ Maxx ;) A big mirror will open up your whole living space!

Buy a tray for keys or other misc stuff that might tend to pile up on your entry table. You can find cute trays at walmart and just paint in the color you want with a little spray paint. Put some flowers on the tray to add some flare.

Introduce aqua onto your console table (since you have that color in your living room) Buy some cheap candle sticks, paint them with Krylon Catalina Mist, it is such a gorgeous soft color.

Buy a used chair, make it fun....I would personally paint it in antique gold color. Think of the chair as more of a statement piece, not something that is super practical. You can get used chairs for $5.00 a piece at places like Salvation Army. Look for a chair where the seat can be recovered. It's a really easy project. My favorite spray paint right now is Krylon Champagne Nouveau!! It is the perfect color if you are going for a vintage type of look! To make it extra fun I would cover the seat in a really pretty light blush pink color. It would be a statement and would be oh so pretty! If you are not brave enough to do a pink chair, maybe add a pink pillow just for me. :)

Here are some pictures I found with the color scheme I think would look so beautiful!

Good luck Bekah! Let me know any other questions that you have. Make sure to send me a picture when you have completed your entry.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Well hello there. We have been so busy working on our house. No... not the kitchen, sorry :( But the living room, hallway, and entryway! We made our poop rust doors our first priority! (I'll explain below) Anyway, I did the above design board as inspiration for my entry..... How do you think I did, bringing it to reality?!

We are really happy with how everything is coming along. I knew that I wanted the look of the design board, but on the cheap. If I would have purchased the items used in that design board, my entryway would have cost me approximately $3,000. Um, YA RIGHT! There is no way. I pretty much stuck with a $100.00 budget. And that is including the wood that my husband and I used for the molding. Of course we got all the molding at, you will never guess.... Habitat for Humanity! Here is our "Entry" wall before!

No, that is not stained wood, the people that sold us the house actually painted it that color. Weird I know. Anyway we got busy, painted all the doors in the house a really dark charcoal gray, all the trim white, and then added some trim of our own.

And now we have this.

We wrapped the molding around the hallway along with a gallery that I did with some poster frames for really inexpensive. I added some baskets to keep blankets in, or random junk that I may not want on the top of my pretty styled table. I love my hallway and entryway now. Before they were the ugliest part of our house. Now with all the paint, pretties and pictures of us and our petskids, it's my favorite part of our home!

I picked up this vintage lamp at our town garage sale for $1.00! Just added a black shade, instant update to a lamp.

I’m Ashleigh! I am always on the hunt for beautiful things on a bargain budget! I love my husband, our pets, and our home! I am so thankful to "God, who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy." I hope you will find inspiration here for design, DIY, fashion and cooking!